The Chinese in Southeast Asia Volume 1. Ethnicity and Economic Activity

349 Pages·1983·55.914 MB·English

by  Linda Y.C. Lim and L. A. Peter Gosling

W
,-H
mi-
Economic Research Centre
The Economic Research Centre is an independent
non-faculty department in the National University
of Singapore. lt carries out policy-oriented studies
on development problems in Southeast Asia,
particularly Singapore. It also undertakes projects
for the public and private sectors in Singapore.
Centre for South & Southeast Asian Studies
The Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies
of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor was
established 25 years ago to coordinate inter-
disciplinary area and language instruction on
South and Southeast Asia, operate research pro-
grams, sponsor visiting scholars and research
conferences, publish scholarly works, and foster
the development of Southeast Asian studies. The
Centre organized the conference on Southeast
Asian Chinese ethnicity and economic activity at
which most of the papers included in this volume
were presented.
Economic Research Centre
and
Centre for South & Southeast Asian Studies
The Chinese
in
Southeast Asia
Volume 1
Ethnicity and Economic Activity
Edited by
Linda Y. C. Lim & L. A. Peter Gosling
MARUZEN ASIA
SINGAPORE
1.
Published by Maruzen Asia Pte. Ltd.
51 Ayer Rajah Crescent #07-09
Republic of Singapore 0513
Copyright © 1983 Maruzen Asia
All rights reserved. No part of tl publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in»_F F' Jorm or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy,
of
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission the publisher.
ISBN 9971-954-09-5 (Paperback)
9971-954-10-9 (Hardback)
Seal-engraving on cover and calligraphy on half-title page by Oh Khang Lark.
Printed by Koon Wah Printing Pte. Ltd., Singapore
Preface
This is the first of a two-volume collection of papers, most of which were
presented at a conference on The Chinese in Southeast Asia: Ethnicity and Economic
Activity organised and sponsored by the Center for South and Southeast Asian
Studies of the University of Michigan, and held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on
September 20 and 21, 1980. A few additional papers were solicited from scholars
in Southeast Asia who expressed interest in the conference but could not personally
participate. The Economic Research Centre of the National University of Singapore,
two of whose research staff then, including one of the editors, participated in the
conference, kindly agreed to handle the editorial and production work.
The 26 papers in this and its companion volume, Volume 2: Identity, Culture
and Politics, with one or two exceptions, collectively represent a relatively new
direction in research on the Chinese in Southeast Asia. Traditionally, such research
has been dominated by Sinologists, particularly anthropologists, who have tended
to view and to study Southeast Asians of Chinese descent as "Nanyang" or "Overseas"
Chinese, extension of or peripheral to some central mainland Chinese cultural and
and historical tradition which in large part no longer exists in China itself today.
This collection breaks away from this tradition in a number of ways. It is multi-
disciplinary, including among the contributors not only anthropologists, but also
economists, sociologists, political scientists, and geographers, representing the broad
spectrum of the social sciences. Further, with only a few exceptions, most of the
authors are not bound by the narrowly-defined terms of the mainstreams of their
respective disciplines, but seek to analyse their subjects in original ways. marrying
and bridging socio-cultural and political-economic perspectives. More importantly,
most also analyse the Chinese in the context to which they belong today, as an
integral part of their respective Southeast Asian nations and localities, rather than
as a variant of some extinct central Chinese national tradition.
The collection remains inadequate in not offering sufficient comparative analysis
of the Chinese and indigenous Southeast Asians on the same terms, particularly in
the economic arena. We hope that it will inspire more future research in this direction.
Most of the papers report on original case study material collected by the
authors themselves. While each paper stands by itself, we hope that our respective
introductory reviews succeed at least partly in placing them in a coherent collective
context. These reviews remain selective, however, and the reader is urged to refer to
the individual papers, which may incorporate perspectives different from those
employed by the editors in their introductions.
Finally, it remains for us to thank the many people who made both this
publication and conference from which it originated possible: the staff and students
of the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies of the University of Michigan,
particularly Michael Cullinane and Susan Fe Go, and the staff of the Economic
Research Centre of the National University of Singapore, especially its director,
Pang Eng Fong, and above all, Angeline Choo, who efficiently and single-handedly
typed the entire manuscript. We are deeply indebted to them all.
Linda Y. C. Lim
L. A. Peter Gosling
The Contributors
CLIFTON G. BARTON received his Ph.D. in anthropology from
Cornell University in 1977. He is the author of many articles on Chinese
commercial activity in Vietnam, including "Credit and the Small Farmer:
Case Study of the Mekong Delta, South Vietnam," in Small Farmer Credit:
Informal Credit, USAID, 1973
PAUL CHAN TUCK-HOONG received his Ph.D. in economics
from Australian National University in 1977, and is currently Chairman of
the Division of Applied Economics of the Faculty of Economics and
Administration at the University of Malaya. He has conducted wide-ranging
research on development and population issues in Malaysia, and is currently
analysing the results of two large-scale surveys focusing on ethnicity: one on
marriage and martial dissolution among ethnic groups in Malaysia, and the
other on Indian plantation workers in Malaysia.
L. A. PETER GOSLING received his Ph.D. in geography from the
University of Michigan, where he has been Professor of Geography and
Director of the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, and is
currently Professor in the Department of Anthropology. His wide-ranging
research and publications on Southeast Asia focus on rural development
and population movement in Malaysia and Thailand, and include "Migration
and Assimilation of Rural Chinese in Trengganu," in J. Bast if and
R. Roolvink (eds.) Malayan and Indonesian Studies (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, I964).
JAMES A. HAFNER received his Ph.D. in geography from the
University of Michigan in 1970, and is currently Associate Professor of
Geography in the Department of Geology and Geography at the University
of Massachussetts in Amherst. His research interests focus on agricultural
development, migration, and environmental and spatial perception in
Thailand, and his publications referring to the Chinese in Southeast Asia
include "Man and Nature in Rural Thailand," Journal of the Siam Society
(July 1973), and "Riverine Commerce in Thailand: Tradition in Decline,"
Journal of the Siam Society (July 1974).
JANET T. LANDA received her Ph.D. in economics from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1978, and is currently Assistant
Professor of Economics in the Department of Political Economy, Fai!
Research Associate at the Institute for Policy Analysis, at the University
of Toronto. Her research interests are in the economics of property rights
and public choice theory, and her many publications relating to the Chinese
in Southeast Asia include "Markets, Middlemen and Technology: Agri-
cultural Response in the Dualistic Economies of Southeast Asia," (co-
authored with Peter F. Bell) in The Malayan Economic Review (April 1969),
and "The Economics of Symbols, Clan Names and Religion." (co-authored
vii
with Jack Carr) in the Journal of Legal Studies (January 1983).
LINDA Y. C. LIM received her Ph.D. in economics from the
University of Michigan in 1978, She has been Assistant Professor of
Economics at Swarthmore College and Research Fellow at the Economic
Research Centre of the National University of Singapore, and currently
holds an International Relations Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation
while being a Research Associate of the Center for South and Southeast
Asian Studies at the University of Michigan. Her research and publications
on multinational corporations, export manufacturing, and women factory
workers in Malaysia and Singapore include "Vertical Linkages and Multi-
national Enterprises in Developing Countries," (co-authored with Pang
Eng Fong) in World Development (July l982).
LIM MAH HUI received his Ph.D. in sociology and economics
from the University of Pittsburgh in 1978. He was for many years Lecturer
in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of
Malaya, and is currently Assistant Professor of Sociology at Temple
University. His research and publications on development and social change,
ethnicity and class in Malaysia include "Ethnic and Class Relations in
Malaysia," in the Journal of Contemporary Asia (1980) and Ownership
and Control of the 100 Largest Corporations in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur:
Oxford University Press, 1981).
DONALD NONINI is completing his Ph.D. in anthropology at
Stanford University, and is interested in the political economy of Chinese
communities in China and Southeast Asia. He has published "The mysteries
of capital accumulation, honoring the gods and gambling among Chinese
in a Malaysian market town," in Proceedings of the First International
Symposium on Asian Studies, 1979: Volume Ill, Southeast Asia (Hong Kong:
Asian Research Service, 1979).
JOHN T. OMOHUNDRO received his Ph.D. in anthropology from
the University of Michigan in 1974, and is currently Associate Professor
of Anthropology at the State University College of Arts and Science,
Potsdam, New York. His research interests include the ethnicity and
economic activities of the Overseas Chinese, and he has published Chinese
Merchant Families in I[0i/0: Commerce and Kin in a Central Philippine
City (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1981).
PANG ENG FONG received his Ph.D. in economics and industrial
relations from the University of Illinois in 1971, and has been Director
of the Economic Research Centre of the National University of Singapore
since 1973. His research and many publications on labour and manpower
planning, economic development and industrialisation in Singapore include
"Growth, Inequality, and Race in Singapore," in International Labour
Review (January 1975) and "The Economic Status of Malay Muslims in
Singapore," in Journal Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (Winter 1981).
JUDITH V. STRAUCH received her Ph.D. in anthropology from
Stanford University in 1975. She was for several years Assistant Professor
of Anthropology at Harvard University, and is currently Associate Professor
viii
in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tufts University.
She has done field research in Chinese villages in Malaysia and Hong Kong,
focusing on political, economic and ethnic issues. Her many publications
include "Multiple ethnicities in Malaysia: the shifting relevance of alternative
Chinese categories," Modern Asian Studies (1981), and Chinese Village
Politics in the Malaysian State (Cambridge, Massachussetts: Harvard
University Press, 1981).
I
ARAM A. YENGOYAN received his Ph.D. in anthropology from
the University of Chicago, and is currently Professor of Anthropology
and Director of the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies at the
University of Michigan. He has done field research and published many
articles on various ethnic and tribal groups in the Philippines and Australia
including several articles in Ethnic Groups of Insular Southeast Asia.
Volume 2: Philippines and Formosa, edited and compiled by Frank M. LeBar,
(New Haven: Human Relations Area Files Press, 1971).